Silence in Solitude

by Melissa Scott

Series:

Roads of Heaven #2

Publisher:

Nelson Doubleday

Copyright:

1986

Printing:

1987

Format:

Hardcover

Pages:

230

This is the second book in the Roads of Heaven series and should be read
after Five-Twelfths of Heaven. I read
this book as part of the Roads of Heaven book club omnibus. This
sidebar information is for that omnibus, except for the page count.

This is the second book of a trilogy that's also a bit of a coming-of-age
story, following a path of growing power for the protagonist, so I was
bracing myself for typical middle-book concerns. The middle book of that
sort of trilogy is notoriously difficult to write since the characters
have neither the impetus of starting out nor can reach a final triumph,
leaving the book with a tendency to wander. It typically contains lots of
education for the protagonist followed by a minor interim victory or
possibly a setback. It's hard for that middle book to be as interesting
as either the first book or the last.

I was pleasantly surprised here, though. Scott doesn't break entirely
away from the formula — Silence in Solitude does
roughly follow the side quest model — but nonetheless
delivers a great book in its own right. This is, in sharp distinction
from the first book, a caper novel. Furthermore, it's a good caper
novel.

Silence in Solitude revolves around the Women's Palace, a
harem-like (but without the sexual purpose) closed palace for high-ranking
women of the Hegemony, surrounded by intense security. For reasons
related to the overall plot of the series, Silence and her companions have
to both infiltrate the palace and get one of the women held hostage there
out again. This provides opportunities to show off not only Scott's
intriguing alchemical magic system, but also Silence's ability to navigate
an extremely sexist and smotheringly "protective" culture. She's more
deft than aggressive, which for me makes her a more believable and
interesting strong female protagonist for this background. She doesn't
react to her culture like an outsider; rather, she finds ways to act
against it, to play the game in a way that undermines it.

Scott's characters in general are excellent, but I particularly like the
way she writes women in this universe. The dominant culture in the Roads
of Heaven universe has distinctly medieval ideas about the role of women
in society, and most of the women encountered here are stuck in those
roles. But they're not helplessly stuck and they're not only victims.
Scott balances the injustice and helplessness with ingenuity and
resourcefulness in a way that rings true to both. There isn't going to be
an unrealistic sudden change of mindset across the whole culture, but
neither are the women hostages to a point of social criticism.
Silence in Solitude provides solid entertainment with an additional
layer of struggle against a culture that demeans one's sex, a layer that
doesn't take over the story but provides some nice depth.

I tried and failed to find a good book to which to compare
Five-Twelfths of Heaven. Silence in Solitude is easier to
compliment that way: it reminds me of Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books, and one of the better ones at that. It has the
same delightful tension of secret identities and improvised plans, built
up with excellent pacing and enjoyable characters. I personally like
Silence better than Miles, although I suspect that will be a matter of
opinion. But for me, at least, Silence's calmer thoughtfulness and
careful determination are both more appealing and more interesting than
Miles's manic energy. The first book of this series introduced a great
universe with a functional story; this is a great story built on that same
universe (although we don't get as many fascinating new details here).

Five-Twelfths of Heaven is a great book, and you should read that
first. If you liked it, definitely continue on to Silence in
Solitude, which is even better. I'm very much looking forward to reading
the third.